The main aim of businesses is to accomplish their mission (Ireland 34). The process of moving towards the achievement of its mission requires organisations to apply effective strategies that facilitate an effective response to the range of factors that may affect such objectives. Unforeseen factors may cause devastating impacts on the wellbeing of an organisation. In this case, therefore, utilising appropriate strategies to deal effectively with the plausible future events is necessary. Planned opportunism is the systematic process that assists in the recognition of the impending changes and assuring the opportunities that such changes may provide, thus supporting the development of the experiments for distillation and scaling up the non-straight business ideas (Ireland 45). This strategy plays important roles in various multinational companies in the world such as the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). Fundamentally, the global segment of the IBM provides IT infrastructure services that include IT sourcing, integrated technology, and other auxiliary technological services. While it is notable that the organisation moves to its success, application of planned opportunism may help reduce any damage caused by the unforeseen events. This paper, therefore, provides a discussion of planned opportunism in the case of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
The Challenge
The organisational performance is affected by many factors, some of which are classified as the unforeseen and uncertain future factors. According to Michael Porter, understanding the competitive forces and the underlying causes depicts the foundations of the current profitability of an organisation and the frameworks for the anticipation and influencers of competition over time. On a wider note, such forces include the threats of new entries, the bargaining powers of both the buyers and suppliers and the rivalry among the existing competitors. As in the case of the IBM, these factors affects its abilities to provide a broad range of technological products and services in its global segment. More specifically, the IBM has a software segment that provides a middleware and operating systems software that includes the WebSphere for the integration and management of the business processes. Additionally, through its consulting services, IBM is provided with an ability to deliver the client values with the solutions embedded in the strategy and transformation, application of the innovation services and other important components. A closer look at this strategy illustrates that an IBM products have significant demand for all nations that use the technology. Uncertain future factors are likely to affect its operation, thereby preventing it from providing the required services to its target customers.
Various strategies can, however, be used to prepare IBM for the uncertain features as described by Michael Porter (5). Firstly, the recognition that change will occur and requires effective adaptation mechanism is an important strategy for preparing IBM for the uncertain features that may come its way. Secondly, conducting an assessment of the impacts of the different unpredictable forces of change on the development trajectories is important. To sum up, making the structural changes and the planning processes for the implementation of effective strategies for facing the unpredictable factors will help the IBM build its three core businesses that include the software, services and the hardware. In the same way, such strategies to prepare the company for the uncertain future factors will allow the company expand its services to other foreign markets where it has not reached.
Starting Point
Weak signals are important tools when anticipating future changes. Fundamentally, a weak signal refers to a past or present issue with the ambiguous interpretation of origin, meaning and implications (Ireland 56). They also refer to unclear events that provide a warning to us regarding the probability of the future events. As noted in the organisation, the IBM has another significant segment known as Tivoli software that facilitates the management of the business infrastructures in the real time.
Ideally, this segment also offers the Watson software for the interaction with the natural language and processing of huge data. The systems design in IBM and procures the semiconductors devices for use in the company systems. While IBM faces competition from other competitors, these products are of high quality and therefore able to meet the needs and the demands of the targeted customers and companies. Application of the concept of ‘planned opportunism’ in the case will enhance a clear understanding of the circumstances that will favour the operation of the IBM. Planned opportunism through the identification of the weak signals that affect the functioning of the IBM will accelerate the globalisation thus stimulating the unidentified markets across the world. The target consumers will, therefore, be those in the untapped markets.
In the process of exploring the new markets at the global perspective, various disruptive technologies will open the new opportunities and spaces for IBM. Fundamentally, a disruptive technology refers to innovation that establishes a new market that ultimately disrupts the current market, thereby displacing the already established leaders and mergers that exist. Some of the disruptive technologies that IBM is likely to encounter in the process of expanding themselves to serve the consumers in the untapped markets include the software and technologies that will emerge with an aim of promoting the change, thus gaining an advantage over the competition with the IBM. In this sense, the companies whose objectives are to provide IT infrastructure services such as IT sourcing, integrated technology, and other auxiliary technological services will be the major competitors within the unexplored global markets.
Reaching a significant number of customers and companies that use IT infrastructure services such as the IT sourcing, integrated technology, and other auxiliary technological services is the major aim of the IBM Company. As Porter’s posits, the industry participants encounter switching costs in the changing suppliers. This means that whenever businesses put more investments heavily in specialised services locations, the profitability depends on whether their production lines are located to supplier’s manufacturing facilities (3). In this manner, IBM will choose to implement an action plan that will aim to adjust its position to the untapped targeted market. In this case of the IBM, the implementation of the go-to-market strategy will offer a blueprint for the delivery of product or service to end the customer, through considering the factors such as the pricing and distribution.
Regulatory reforms by the government create enabling an environment for business operations or threatens the existence of business. IBM primary objective is to reach a significant number of customers and companies that use IT infrastructure services such as the IT sourcing, integrated technology, and other auxiliary technological services. In this sense, favourable legislations as stipulated by the business and company laws will enhance the initiatives of the IBM to secure the untapped market segment through its quality IT services.
The Way Forward
As noted in the discussion, reaching a significant number of customers and companies that use IT infrastructure services such as the IT sourcing, integrated technology, and other auxiliary technological services is the major aim of the IBM Company. According to Porter, having a better understanding of the forces that shape the competition within the industry is the most important and starting point for the development of the strategy. In this sense, IBM will have to know the average profitability of the technological industry and the dynamics involved within a given period. Concerning the case, the Porter’s five forces offer the demonstration of the meaning of profitability. To succeed and survive through the actions of the five forces, IBM must position itself strategically, exploit the industry change, and shape the structure of the industry through the application of the methods the wholly constitute to planned opportunism.
Works Cited
Ireland, R D, Robert E. Hoskisson, and Michael A. Hitt. Understanding Business Strategy: Concepts and Cases. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.
Porter, Michael, The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review
